Moderating Role of Youth Empowerment towards Small and Medium Enterprises and Multidimensional Poverty Index

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the moderating effect of youth empowerment on the nexus between small medium enterprises (SMEs) and multidimensional poverty index (MPI) in Niger State, Nigeria. Statistical Package for Social Science is employed for descriptive analysis whereas Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) is used for hypotheses inference. Theoretically, participation of youth in SMEs activities if well harness; will foster economic, social and political values of a society. Hence, youth empowerment was employed as the moderator on the relationship between SMEs owners and MPI. The results show the moderating effect of youth empowerment denotes a positive effect on the relationship between SMEs and MPI; hence, it implies an increase in the empowerment of youth hampers poverty in Niger State and Nigeria at large.